Covering the period from his birth in 1749 to his departure for Weimar in 1775, in Poetry and Truth Goethe recalls his childhood and youth as the son of well-to-do, middle-class parents, his education and literary awakening, early loves, and the creation and reception of works from his Sturm und Drang years, such as The Sorrows of Young Werther, Goetz von Berlichingen, and Urfaust. Not merely an account of Goethe's own life, this book also explores the influences on his early years--friends, mentors, famous personages of his time, intellectual movements, cities, and historical events--to draw a lifelike picture of his time.